Misa Hiroyoshi
Appearance Misa is an average Japanese girl entering high school. Her skin is light but not pale, has black eyes and long dark hair, usually tied up in a long ponytail while her bangs cover her forehead. She has a slim athletic body and her face is rounder than she would like. Her affinity for clothing tends to lean towards dressing modestly but she does change it up once in a while. Persona Shinatobe is derivative of the Japanese wind deity, Fuujin, she appears as a dark-grey skinned woman with the mask of a demon's face. She has body length sky-blue hair and dons a long fluttering white dress. She carries a long flowing cloth bag of air under one arm that flows up her arm, around her shoulders, across her back and rests at the end of her other hand. Japanese term for 'catching a cold' can be translated as 'catching the wind', which is the theme for the character's skills Ailment and debuffs. The ice resistance is a play on words, the 'wind' can't catch a 'cold'. Personality While a quiet girl, Misa is definitely not shy, she does not say anything excessive and says just what she needs. She is diligent with her work at school, at the shrine and at home. While she isn't committed nor skilled enough to compete for the kendo or archery club, she practices for self improvement and discipline. She splits the housework with her grandmother and they have a mutual relationship. Working at the shrine, she had gained patience with listening to others and their problems and requests as well as beginning to understand others better. She is embarrassed easily but having that opportunity may be rare. She values trust and honesty. Background Misa lives with her widowed grandmother in Inaba while her parents both work out of town. Her grandfather was a priest at the Tatsuhime shrine before he passed away, Misa moved to Inaba during middle school to help out with the shrine and watch over her aging grandmother. Being in a family that is very tied into Shinto beliefs, Misa is training to take care of the shrine indefinitely as a shrine maiden, whether or not her parents can transfer over. During her time in middle school, she had excellent grades and was a member of the kendo club and to an extent, the archery club, though she did not particularly excel at either activity. Stats Skills Plot On the afternoon of May the 20th, Misa was finally able to find time between school and shrine work to take her grandmother's old 'malfunctioning' television set to Junes for inspection. Unaware of the nature of the Midnight Channel and its supernatural nature, both Misa and the electronics employee were unable to find the problem. Despite a lengthy and uneventful exchange, much to the dismay of the employee, Misa was told to check back later to see if they could fix it. With nowhere to go thanks to the thunderstorm outside, Misa explored the aisle she usually does not get to see. By chance stopping upperclassmen Mathias Oshiro, Misa wanted to greet and thank the upperclassmen for his help with her English studies earlier in the month. One thing led to another and with Misa making poor decisions due to mental fatigue, Misa ended up getting involved with the TV world. Met with shock and anger, Misa was apologetic despite being in a state of confusion, shock and fear. The support party consisting of her upperclassmen Mathias Oshiro, Daisuke Tanaka as well as two others Misa did not know directly, Shirou Mochizuki and Makoto Sato, did not know what to do about her. However before any explanation could be given and boundaries stated, a shadow creature resembling Fuujin, one of the foxes that lives at the Tatsuhime Shrine, appears from the fog injured. Before any rational thoughts, Misa's altruistic nature gave her the strength to pursue the creature, much to the party's dismay. Being led into the fog, they were brought to a manifestation of Misa's grandparent's home in Inaba. The place felt empty despite the aged furnishing and the building gave off the smell of burning incense. This is a representation of the internal problems of those two who inhabit the house. Even though everything looks fine on the outside, one person was still mourning the lost of her significant other, the other was suffering because of it. The footprints led upstairs into Misa room. The room was normal but still felt empty, it lacked any personal possessions, there was a futon but there was no expression, a desk without stationary or lamp, a bookshelf with no real literature and the gold fiery fox footprints led into a closet of darkness. Passing through into the closet, the front gates of the Tatsuhime shrine welcomed all. Humanoid silhouettes passed by like pedestrians and changed between two states, the first resembled normal people. The second state looked like a humanoid with poor posture, depressing looking and seemed to be dropping gold coins. This represents the internal conflict within Misa and her morality. The abundance of these silhouettes shows her sensitivity to the inhabitants of Inaba, she does not discriminate helping any of them and by thinking that way, everyone looks the same, however times are changing cultural beliefs are less religious than ever before. People only came to the shrine when they had troubles and wanted to put their faith or blame on 'luck' rather than to look into themselves. This brings up the second state which is that of those whom are 'slaves' of religion and also Misa's troubles with money. Shrines operate on donations and large shrines are self-sustaining and it is not surprising that those that run them are wealthy. The Tatsuhime shrine was run by a lone fox for many years before Misa's grandparents moved back into town. Being an extremely small shrine, it was mostly taken care of by personal donations from her grandparents to improve the grounds. Donations have improved over the years but the family would never take more than what is 'fair' for themselves. This also explains the two states of the shrine that it transforms between, that of a poorly maintained one, and one that has had money pumped into it. Finally Misa was found in the small storage hut. Most of the structure is representative of the actual structure in the reality, there was a large chain lock for a small shed, and the various cleaning supplies present. Among the shrine equipment there were many personal possessions, books, articles of clothing among others but also a mirror in the center of the shed. Meeting her shadow, Shadow Misa expresses her desire to run away from the responsibilities that she feels have been forced upon her. She had to make large decisions for the shrine despite not being a fully fledged shrine maiden, let alone priestess, she had to tend to her elderly grandmother despite her age without parental support, working hard despite the little money involved. Instead her shadow wanted to experience what living in Inaba had to offer. She wanted to join a club, hangout afterschool and not have to have a worry. Hearing her shadow-self, Misa understood her own heart better. Reassuring herself, Misa understood why people had beliefs in faith, it was not that she could not help people with their own troubles, but she could help them help themselves. Misa comforted her own shadow telling her that it was okay to think this way, but to not blame others because the only person that could help her shadow was herself. Telling her shadow that she would no longer act as a victim of circumstance and that she would put extra effort into what she did to make sure that she could do what she wanted, after all, she was still only just a high schoolgirl, she had plenty of time to grow up. Accepting her shadow, she was reconfigured into the wind deity Shinatobe, Misa manifested her Persona of the Hermit Arcana. Turning down the idea of heading back when she discovered why the party went into the TV world, Misa journeyed with the party further into the fog. Eventually they enter an area reflecting Makoto's inner desires. Supporting her upperclassmen with the rest of the party, Makoto was able to overcome his feelings of lonelyness and helplessness prior to his arrival in Inaba. Understanding his urge to solve a crime stemmed from wanting something to drive him forward, Makoto was able to accept his shadow, becoming the feline warrior Neko Shogun of the Star Arcana. Soon after, the party was ambushed by a large mechanical scorpion-like shadow. Still suffering from the invoking of her Persona, Misa was unable to act which caused her allies to be wary of her. When her awakening was finally complete, the party was still unable to put a dent into the scorpion's armor, it resisted sickness and fire. The only harm they were able to cause was through Mathias's persona's use of Bufu, embedding a shard of ice into the exoskeleton. With his scan complete, Shirou informed them that lightning and piercing techniques were most effective. Switching strategies, the party saw some success but it took them too long to respond. Force to go on the offensive despite the injuries they sustained, Misa was able to buy time by having Shinatobe use her garu technique to forcefully drop the scorpion's stinger to puncture itself, thanks to Shirou. Using this opportunity to revitalize Makoto, Misa suffered a fierce counter attack. However with Makoto spearheading the charge, the party defeated the mechanized shadow. Hopeful in rescuing the kidnapped victim, they wondered how the advance party was doing... (TBC - Post Ji-woo meeting - Police Station Confrontation + Slice of Life Goodness) Relationships References * Original Character Sheet